If you are going to build a site you need to get your piece of Internet real estate and buy your website address, domain name, or URL. The sad truth is most people rush into this process without really giving it much thought, which is a very costly and foolish mistake. There is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to picking a domain name to drive traffic, so here is a list of secret tips you must follow:

1. Keywords, Keywords, Keywords- Since our goal is to drive highly targeted traffic to our site; we need to pick a domain name with our keywords in it. Search engines give a lot of weight to domain names. If your domain name matches a keyword phrase that has traffic, you will get higher rankings. For example, if your site is called www.marketingcompany.com, this phrase gets tons of searches a day, so we will get free traffic coming to our site.
2. Be Memorable- Your domain name should be descriptive, memorable, and easy to spell and pronounce. For example, www.myspace.com
3. Avoid Hyphens- Most people won’t remember the hyphen. However if you want to get www.joshfuller.com and it is taken, only then should you try www.josh-fuller.com.
4. .Com First- Buy a .com extension because it’s the default extension in most people’s mind. Many times a .com extension is going to be taken so you will need to try .net, .biz, .org, etc. Always try to get .com first.
5. .Net, .Biz Next- Once you have a .com extension, register .net and .biz. If you have the budget register all three, that way your competition won’t buy them first.
6. Keep it Short- Keep in mind that people need to be able to remember it, and type it. Focus on the shortest name that your customers and visitors will associate with your website. For example, www.pcworld.com, is much more effective than www.powercomputingworld.com
7. Kill Procrastination- Don’t wait to register your domain name. If you are thinking about registering a domain name and it’s available, what are you waiting for? Just like offline real estate, online real estate is being bought up fast. Register before you loose the opportunity to get the name you really want.
8. Get Creative- If your first choice is already taken. Add “e” or “i” or a number in front of a name, for example www.isurfing.com. Another secret is adding “web” or “net” in front or at the end of a name. Combine short, meaningful, catchy phrases or words that describe your business or site. For example if www.cheaptrips.com is taken, try www.webcheaptrips.com or www.cheaptrips4u.com
9. Know the Rules- Remember that domain names can only use letters, numbers, and dashes. Spaces and symbols are not allowed. Also, domain names are not case sensitive.
10. Testing, Testing, 123- Before you purchase your domain name, spend a couple minutes testing them. See what your friends and family think of your choices. You may have a name you think is perfect, however it may be difficult for people to remember and/or hard to spell.
11. Learn from Monopoly- In the board game Monopoly, the person who usually wins, is the person who buys up the most real estate. Online real estate is no different. Purchase domain names similar in spelling to yours. The truth is, most people can’t spell. Every day millions of people misspell domain names. Inevitably, they will still land on someone’s web page. I have typed in www.utube.com, instead of www.youtube, a couple times and landed on some sort of tube manufacturing website. Utube is getting thousands of free hits to their site, just because they are similar in spelling to Youtube. If your website is www.cheaptrips.com, consider buying www.cheeptrips.com and www.cheeptrip.com.
12. Which Online Realtor to Use?- Go to www.GoDaddy.com. Start with The Domain Search Box and search for a name that is available. Once you find a name that works, go ahead and start the check out process. Your new domain name will only cost you $8 - $10. Skip all of the extra services they will try and sell you. No need for them. You only have to register domains for 1 year at a time to keep costs down. They will automatically renew each year or GoDaddy will notify you to do so.

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